[Propertalk] Fwd: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Lent 3B- “Let my Heart Be Broken by the Things that Break the Heart of God.” (Bob Pierce)

[Joe Parrish]

Forwarded: 
-------- Original message --------From: Judy <judy_boli at ecunet.org> Date: 3/3/18  6:45 PM  (GMT-05:00) To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic at ecunet.org> Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Lent 3B- “Let my Heart Be Broken by the Things that Break the Heart of God.” (Bob Pierce) 


Dear Friends,

 

This Sunday’s sermon is entitled “Let my Heart Be
Broken by the Things that Break the Heart of God.” (Bob Pierce) and deals with the
gospel (John 2: 13-22).  Here it is: 

 

So far this Lent, we’ve looked at what the Bible says to us about
temptation- how vulnerable we are to wanting anything we’re not supposed to
have or to doing anything we’re not supposed to do.  In fact one of the Communion hymns that is
very appropriate in Lent is “Yield Not to Temptation for Yielding is Sin.”  We’ve also considered one of our chief
temptations- to avoid the cross that Jesus expects us to carry.  Remember, last week Jesus said, “Take up your
cross and follow me”- and he wasn’t talking about jewelry on a gold chain; he
was talking about a chosen sacrifice for him. 
Today I’d like us to look at where yielding to temptation leads us-
SIN!  Why do we yield?  Because we choose to, we want to.  Did you hear the story of the aged man who
wanted to pass the family Bible on to his daughter?  He wrapped it very carefully and took it to
the post office.  When the clerk took it
from him and started filling out the form, she asked “Is there anything
breakable in this package.”  “No,”
answered the man, “nothing except the Ten Commandments.  We heard the Ten Commandments in the Old
Testament Exodus Bible lesson- using God’s name in vain is not sin- it’s A
sin.  Not coming to church on Sunday is
not sin- it’s A sin.  Stealing is not
sin- it’s A sin.  What is the difference
between SIN and SINS?  Sins are the
result of sin.  We sin because we are
sinners- poisoned inside by original sin. 
What’s original sin?  Answer this
question and you’ll know.  What’s the
middle letter of “SIN?”  Sure- “I” is the
middle letter; and “I” represents what’s poisoned about the whole human
race.  We care more about me, myself, and
mine than we do about God and all of God’s other children.  “I” reminds us that we’re by nature
self-centered, and self-centeredness poisons everything we touch.  Those precious children who try to sneak a
candy bar from a store without paying for it---why do they do it?  Because they want something.  Are they thinking about anyone else?  No. 
What about gossiping or committing adultery or being jealous of what
someone else has?  When we do those
things, are we thinking about ourselves or someone else?  What about speeding or parking in a
“no-parking zone”- who are we thinking about? 
Sure- ourselves.  Committing those
sins doesn’t make us sinners.  No- we
come out of the womb as self-centered sinners and that’s why we sin.  That’s exactly what St. Paul is talking about
in the Romans- chapter 7 Bible lesson “15 In fact, I don't understand why I act the way I do. I don't do what I
know is right. I do the things I hate...18 I know that my selfish desires won't
let me do anything that is good. Even when I want to do right, I cannot.   19 Instead of doing what I know is right, I
do wrong....23 But in every part of me I discover something fighting against my
mind, and it makes me a prisoner of sin that controls everything I do....24
What a miserable person I am. Who will rescue me from this body that is doomed
to die?   25 Thank God! Jesus Christ will
rescue me.”

 

So, how can I tell if something is a sin?  If it comes from my love of self at the
expense of God and my neighbor, it’s a sin. 
Let me ask you a question: Anger is one of the seven deadly sins.  Didn’t we just hear of Jesus being
angry?  Well, I thought Jesus didn’t sin
because his center was pure- not poisoned by original self-centered sin?  How is it possible for him to have been
angry?  Let’s look at the episode in
today’s Gospel (John 2:13-22),
and you’ll see.  What happened?  It was Passover, so Jews from all over the
empire had traveled to Jerusalem
to pay their temple tithe and offer sacrifices for their sins.  Because they had traveled- mostly on foot-
for days, they were exhausted by the time they got there.  They had two problems.  First, they were supposed to pay their temple
tax, but they couldn’t pay it in defiled pagan Roman money.  The temple authorities wouldn’t accept
it.  They had to pay their tithes in
acceptable money.  We face the same
situation today when we go to Canada.  What’s the first thing we usually do after we
enter Canada?  Sure, change our United States money to Canadian
money.  If we do it right at the border,
we usually get a fair exchange; but if we travel some distance into Canada- some
stores won’t give us a fair exchange at all. 
They know we’re stuck- it’s them or nobody.  That’s what the money-changers on the temple
porch did.  They knew those travelers
were stuck- so they made huge profits when they traded Roman coins for temple
tax coins.  

 

There was a second rip-off. 
Travelers coming all that distance couldn’t really bring the lamb or
goat or cow they intended to offer as sacrifice, so they just assumed they
could buy an animal when they got to Jerusalem, and they could- for a price- a
huge price!  Just like when we go to Cedar Point-
we sometimes don’t want to be bothered carrying food, so we assume we’ll buy it
there.  When we get inside the gates,
what do we find?  How much does a simple
hot dog and some pop cost?  Maybe five
dollars, maybe more!  Why?  Because they know we’re stuck!  You want to make a guess how much the
merchants charged for a lamb or goat or cow, so the traveler could make his
sacrifice?  A lot- because the traveler
was stuck- they came all that way to sacrifice, so they had to have an animal.

 

There was one more problem.  The
temple porch where all this buying and selling was going on (can you imagine
the noise and the smell?) was the Court of the Gentiles- the only place where
Gentile converts could pray at the temple. 
Now, how were they supposed to enter into a spirit of prayer with all
that noise and confusion?

 

Do you see why Jesus was angry? 
People, vulnerable people- exhausted travelers and Gentile worshippers-
were being taking advantage of in God’s name- on God’s special property.  “I” (self-centeredness) wasn’t at the center
of Jesus’ anger.  Injustice, lack of
compassion, cold-heartedness, all done in the name of Almighty God- these were
the things that made Jesus angry.  It was
his love for other people that made him angry. 
There are a few other instances when we hear of Jesus getting
angry.  He was furious at the Pharisees
who didn’t want the man with the withered hand to be healed on the Sabbath
Day.  He was angry when the disciples
didn’t want the children to be allowed to come to him.  Both of these situations were similar- vulnerable
people being taken advantage of in God’s name.

 

Now you see the message for us this
Lent.  We are tempted to sin because we
are self-centered sinners.  Taking anger
as an example- when we are angry
because of something that someone did to us or ours, it is sin because it is
“I-focused.”  When we are angry at things
that break the heart of God (racism, sexism, abuse of all kinds, hunger, etc.),
it is not sin- it is holy anger.

 

So, what breaks God’s heart in your family, your block, your
neighborhood, city, country, world?  Do
you care, really care, about God- his hopes, goals, dreams, desires?  If you really care, what are you going to do
about it?

 

This Lent, may God grant us the wisdom to stand strong against
temptation, to fight self-centeredness, and to be angry enough to begin to heal
the things that break God’s heart.  Amen.


 

For anyone who is
interested, this sermon and updated African-American wisdom statements are
posted on our parish’s web site under “Sermons & Stuff”. The address is: http://www.stpaulsepisag.org .

 

Blessed preaching,

Judy Boli

St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Saginaw, Michigan





-- 

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Propertalk" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to propertalk.topic+unsubscribe at ecunet.org.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://stsams.org/pipermail/propertalk_stsams.org/attachments/20180303/80985f06/attachment.htm>